Iran, and More Thoughts on The Unknown Frontiers We Face

 As I write this, it is Saturday, February 28, 2026.  Something very important happened today, in that an evil dictator in Iran was sent to his eternal fate in hell where he belongs.  What this means for Iran remains to be seen - the Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi, would be welcomed back with open arms by thousands of grateful Persians, and in my opinion he should be.  I would not be a good Monarchist if I didn't support the Shah being restored and Persia being restored as well.  The Persians are good people, and they deserve a new beginning, a good new beginning.  Yet, even in the West, you have idiot leftists who are lamenting the fall of a dictator again - what is with these morons anyway??  I am not going to get into that right now, but I will say that I am feeling the winds of change coming, and while they are exciting it is also marked with much uncertainty as well.  This is why I am using this discussion today to tie two things together which are intrinsically related and similar. 

I am old enough to remember when the Shah was overthrown in Iran - I was 9 years old, and the story broke on the news at my grandmother's house in Augusta, WV.  And, it was not good then either - the resulting chaos led to a number of American diplomats being held hostage by the psychopath Khomeini after he gained power, and only the election of President Reagan got them released because Carter had no spine then.  This was perhaps one of the biggest news stories during 1979, when I was on the cusp of celebrating my 10th birthday just after our nation decided Carter's wussiness would not cut it and elected Reagan.  And, ironically, the spread of militant Islamic terrorism was rapid, often funded oddly with monies from the USSR and other Soviet Bloc nations. When Communism finally fell officially in 1989 (I was graduating high school then, and recall that too - I remember the Berlin Wall coming down as well as the courageous stand Chinese students made against the Red Army in Tianamen Square in Beijing then - it was unfortunately replaced with radical Islamism, in both its Shia and Sunni forms.  The regime in Iran funded a lot of that garbage, and it is what destabilized Lebanon and other places in the Middle East.  My good friend Stephen Missick has predicted in his YouTube broadcasts that the fall of Iran will be the decline of Islam in the world, and I am praying he is right.  However, other voices - including the moderate Imam Tawhidi, who I believe to be very insightful on this - are saying that the shift in terrorist activity will move from the Middle East (the Muslim Brotherhood, which is perhaps the mother group of all militant Islamist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS, is actually banned in nations like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) to Europe and the US, given there are higher immigration levels of Muslims into the West now.  I would take a middle position between these and say that both are possible at the same time, and if that is the case, we may actually have some rough waters to navigate ahead.  Although I don't have the time to get into it here, I can say that there are some prophecies and other things that saints and visionaries have had over the years - both Catholic and Orthodox - that foresee a mass conversion of Muslims to the truth of Jesus Christ, and given there are more Muslims who are seeing visions of Christ throughout the Middle East and North Africa, that too is a possibility.  There is a lot yet to be determined though, and it is as if we are taking a forested road and are uncertain of what's ahead because we cannot see through the trees.  And, that is a good place for my bridge in thought at this point. 

I spent a quiet Saturday relaxing in all honesty - my work has been more stressful lately, and I also am a bit discontented about living in Baltimore right now - so I basically just had a day watching YouTube videos in between doing my Saturday chores (which consist of cleaning cat litterboxes and doing my laundry).  On YouTube at times, you can stumble across things by accident that get your attention, and today I came across a channel that features narrated stories about young people who inadvertently stumble across a change in circumstance.  In many of the stories, the person is about 18, and due to the tragedy of losing a parent or grandparent when very young, they were forced into foster care and then kicked out by the system on their 18th birthday.  The young person is somewhat scarred by the experience - the lives they spent in either foster care, a group home, or being raised by indifferent step-parents were not pleasant - and upon being released from either the group home or evicted from the foster care they have stayed, they are then contacted by an attorney of their late parent or grandparent who informs them that something was left to them but they have to travel a distance to claim it.  Once they get to the destination, they discover a run-down house, a cave, or some other less-than-ideal structure and are doubting anything about it or are disappointed, but then a letter, a box, or something else is discovered that reveals a family secret that changes their lives.  The stories themselves are quite riveting, and it is easy to get caught up in them.  Watching those got me thinking about something called the "unknown frontier," and I want to share some insights about my own experience of this from a couple of years ago.  I haven't shared details about a lot of this to anyone aside from those who are closest to me, but watching these today got me reflecting upon that and I wanted to now share what happened in recent years. 

Up until about 2019, my world was pretty predictable and had been much the same for a good 25 or more years.  But then 2020 dawned, and first COVID hit - that changed a lot of things.   During the COVID period (early into it actually) Barbara and I separated, and a year later we officially divorced.  That was something that rocked my world in all honesty, as I had to basically rethink everything in my life for the first time ever, and at that point I had also just turned 50 years old.  Not long after Barbara and I separated in June 2020, in July my father passed away.  Despite not being as close to Dad in recent years (we had a heated disagreement in 2006 and thus our relationship was not the best) I was frankly surprised that he had left me a small inheritance, as well as the lady who executed his estate, a sweet woman named Susan, making sure to send me all of Dad's important documents, pictures and other things (for about a year, I had gotten over 21 boxes of things from her of Dad's).  Thankfully, during COVID I also was eligible for a very nice pandemic stimulus in my unemployment benefits, being I was laid off from what would be my last administrative job in May 2020.  The financial help from all of that was a blessing for about 2 years, but then things got more complicated - in March 2022, I lost Mom, and then things got really rough.  Also it was during that time I was getting financial aid for my doctoral work from school, so that helped out too, but I would be in the final stages of my doctorate starting in 2023.  It started to be a real struggle to pay rent during this time, and it would culminate in what was essentially an eviction in October 2024, ironically one month after my doctorate was conferred.  However, God was in that, and I landed my first teaching job at a Jesuit high school in Baltimore not long after.  But, the time between being forced out of our home in Hagerstown (where I also lost a lot as a result) and starting work was about 1 month, and that was a rough month and would be aptly described as an "unknown frontier."   For 12 days, I lived in a hotel room, and it was a constant struggle to try to scrape funds together to stay in that hotel, but thanks to some good people and two good churches, I had my needs miraculously met.  When I finally got the job offer and a contract, the next phase came, which was finding a house in Baltimore near to the school, and I found where I am sitting at now.  At this point, Barbara and I had parted ways, and she was living in a similar situation in Rockville, sharing a place with 5 men, and she was miserable.  It was a scary time for both of us.  But, thankfully things would start to change, and I wanted to go into that a little now. 

Despite the fact Barbara and I did divorce, we still remained good friends, and perhaps had one of the most peaceful divorces anyone ever had.  Because of that, we stayed connected, and in time the place I lived at here had a change in housemates - the earlier housemate who lived here, Joel, found a new place and his room opened up.  Barbara needed a place, so I was able to get that for her and she now lives here.  We still look out for each other, and although we are divorced, we are basically the only family we have.  Now, don't get me wrong - there is no real chance we will ever be remarried to each other again, as I am actually seeing someone now myself and Barbara is looking for her own soulmate, but we will always be close.  And, despite having a decent-paying job and being able to stabilize my finances, there still is no permanency here, even with work, as I want to work in a school that is actually a little more solidly Catholic (this one I am at now lacks a lot, in all honesty, but I built experience so that is a blessing).  So, the "unknown frontier" still looms before us. 

One thing that has been a defining point in my life over years is the fact I have had to face a lot of adversities, and I have overcome all of them.  In hearing these YouTube stories, I understand what they are saying because I experienced it several times myself.  The last time prior to my current situation was in 1992, when I had the California experience - I went out there on a bus, no money, and it was a disaster basically but God helped me through it.  I was much like many of these young people who are giving these first-person accounts in these videos then.  The facing of a new chapter and staring out at that "unknown frontier" generates a lot of feelings - fear, excitement, resolve, etc.  And, you feel them all at once.  In those times, I feel like country singer Reba McIntyre's song "I'm a Survivor" is talking about me - I am not a fan of her music, but this was the theme song of her sitcom Reba which is how I know it.  At this point in my life - I am 56 now - I am not sure I can start completely over again, but I feel I was forced to at this point and now decisions lay before me.  At this time, I have roughly 6 other schools (all Catholic) who expressed an interest in me, as I am at the point I cannot really predict how much more I can endure the political liberalism, the craziness of the city, and a workplace where I don't feel like I am really heard as much (this, despite the fact I am now acting department chair there).  So, the "unknown frontier" still looms ahead, just as it did the day we were forced to move out of our place in Hagerstown.  I had the feeling that my current work position was only for a season, and there are some things I will discuss at some point that talk about what that season is all about as it bears elaboration as well.  I am on a dirt road at this point, staring into a thick forest and my path is not in clear vision.  I pray that this will change soon, and perhaps it will.  

At any rate, I wanted to just share that tonight, as it was on my mind and my viewing of these stories on YouTube today sort of inspired it.  Thanks for allowing me to share, and will see you next visit.